1. The Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a hermaphroditic electrical connector, including both hermaphroditic terminals and housings, and in particular to a connector system suitable for interconnecting prewired, prefabricated modular units requiring assurance of correct wiring, positive locking interconnect, and constantly shielded conductor members.
2. The Prior Art
The use of prefabricated, prewired modular units has been constantly growing in recent years, particularly in the building industry. Such units are not only found in the mobile home field where two or more units are joined together, but in the field of static housing where prefabricated units are built at a factory and permanently assembled at a building site. Each of these units is designed as a self contained unit and includes all of the necessary electrical and plumbing fixtures which simply need to be interconnected to power sources at the building site.
The electrical interconnections for such prewired, prefabricated modular units have particular problems in that they must satisfy three basic requirements. The first requirement is the terminals and conductors must at all times be concealed so as to prevent accidental engagement with conductive surfaces, which could short the system causing the subsequent substantial danger of electrical fires. Secondly, the connector must be so configured as to present a substantial impossibility of miswiring occurring. Finally, the connectors must be capable of effecting a locking engagement which will resist disassembly, even when high pulling forces are applied to the connector, while providing sufficient strain relief to prevent separation of the cable from the connector.
There are many well known electrical connectors which will meet some of the requirements outlined above, however, there is not presently available a connector system which will entirely meet current needs. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,386,177; 2,838,739; 3,373,397; 3,654,586 and 3,732,525 all show hermaphroditic type electrical connectors which do not satisfy the above-mentioned requirements in that they either do not provide strain relief and locking or the strain relief and locking mechanisms are complex and expensive to manufacture. However, all of the connectors described in these patents do provide adequate protection for the terminals.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,891,103 and 3,337,836 both show a type of connector which can be used to connect cable to a panel, such as a power distribution box. The latter of these patents concerns a connector which is also hermaphroditic in nature. However, neither of these connectors includes locking means which would keep the connector members mated when a strain is placed on the associated cable. Also, neither provides positive wiring to prevent miswiring nor the convenience of insulation piercing assembly.
There are numerous devices in the prior art which provide positive latching of mated connector members, for example those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,605,068 and 3,688,243. The first of these patents represents the type of locking which would require the use of a separate or special tool to effect unlocking. The second patent represents the type of lock which can be readily unlocked without the use of special tools. This type of locking mechanism has the disadvantage that it can be accidentally and unintentionally unlocked.
Hermaphroditic terminals per se are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,434,226; 2,460,231 and 3,202,954. This type of terminal is particularly desirable for use in a hermaphroditic connector since it eases the assembly thereof.